Letters to Monica by Philip Larkin

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When Philip Larkin’s Selected Letters came out in 1992, some
critics were horrified that he made devastatingly rude remarks about all his
friends to all the other friends. They did not grasp that this was simply a
great game in which they all merrily took part. What those narrow critics
missed was the generosity of the letters as letters. They were full of jokes
and gossip — written to please, clearly wonderful to receive.

Now we have another great cache of missives, selected from almost 2,000
letters and postcards written by Larkin to his girlfriend, Monica Jones,
over 40 years. They